


#capsmysteryguy

by kasunn



Series: Captain Rogers: Youtuber [1]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Boyfriend Tag, Coming Out, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Secret Relationship, Social Media, angst if you squint, excessive use of twitter, gratuitous fake russian courtesy of italics, probably a lot of other things that I'm forgetting, too many made up usernames, violinist!natasha, violinist!steve, war hero!bucky, youtuber!steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-04 21:55:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15156422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasunn/pseuds/kasunn
Summary: “Your subscribers seem nice,” Bucky says, interrupting the silence that had settled over them. Steve rubs a hand over his face.“Yeah, they’re pretty cool,” Steve says, sitting down next to Bucky. “Should I tell them about us or just let them keep guessing?”Bucky grins mischievously. “Yes.”(aka a secret relationship/youtube AU starring Steve as a violinist and Bucky as his hot mystery boyfriend)





	#capsmysteryguy

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is so much all over the place, but I loved the idea and I just word spilled. All said, I really hope you like it. It's just a youtuber au man. This was so indulgent.
> 
> It's for Steve's birthday too! Happy birthday Steve! Happy not-actually-fourth-yet to anyone who's celebrating that.
> 
> Also. I made them speak Russian a lot, but it's actually English, just in italics. You'll get it. I think (hope) I made it obvious enough lmao

Steve wakes up in the mood to shoot a live video. He alerts his followers with a short message that he’ll be live streaming in about an hour and busies himself trying to get Bucky to wake up since he’s in the mood to play something on his violin and doesn’t want to disturb his sleep. Disturb it with his violin playing, anyway. 

 

“Babe,” Steve mumbles into Bucky’s shoulder. Bucky grumbles something and drags Steve closer, easy considering how much bigger Bucky is especially after beefing up in training. Steve squirms slightly in his grasp. “C’mon, Bucky. Wake up and I’ll make you breakfast.”

 

Bucky huffs, grip tightening around Steve briefly before he let’s go, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. “It’s eight in the goddamn morning, Steve,” Bucky groans, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed with bleary eyes and kissing Steve on the cheek.

 

Steve smiles. “I wanna play something since I haven’t had time to make a video lately. Vivaldi or Paganini? What do you think?” He’d gotten Bucky to recognize different composers’ names, so Steve can ask his opinion which Bucky does willingly since he’s hooked on orchestral music now.

 

“That thing by, um, the Camille guy-- Saint-Saens. You played it yesterday, I think, when you were practicing for your exam. Play that. Sounded good,” Bucky murmurs, nuzzling Steve’s neck. Steve pushes him away since he wouldn’t be able to live down the embarrassment if he shot a video with a hickey Bucky gave him and walks out of the room.

 

“Alright. I’ll do that. What do you want for breakfast?” Steve calls. Bucky says something unintelligible around his toothbrush and Steve decides on heating up some leftovers because that’s the easiest.

 

“Yum,” Bucky says, hugging Steve around his middle. He smells like mint and Bucky and Steve melts in his hold. He presses a kiss to Steve’s temple and ruffles his hair.

 

“Hey!” Steve grumbles, pouting at Bucky as he laughs. “I have to do a video today. You can’t give me any marks. It’s hard to play with a scarf on.”

 

“You don’t  _ have _ to record a video today,” Bucky says, leaning down and touching the tip of his nose to Steve’s. “It’s the weekend, so we could technically just stay in bed all day. Have some breakfast. Go grocery shopping. Fuck.” Bucky winks at Steve and Steve bops him with his hip, pushing him towards the table. 

 

“Perv. Grab the food from the microwave and get eating.”

 

“Sir, yes, sir,” Bucky says, mock saluting. Steve rolls his eyes.

 

***

 

“Hey, everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, huh,” Steve says to the camera. The camera is on a small tripod on the coffee table and Steve is sitting on the floor in front of it, back against the couch. He glances at the live feed where a couple dozen people have started to hop on and comment. Steve snickers at the most recent one, reaching up to pat his hair down. Dammit, Bucky. 

 

“Mmm, yeah, I forgot to brush my hair this morning, I guess. I’ll be one second,” he says, jumping up to brush it to a decent state quickly. 

 

“Alright, I’m back,” Steve says, sitting back on the floor. “I wanted to play something for you guys since I haven’t actually edited any content or...done shit since exams are killer. Were! I finished most of them up last week,” Steve grins. 

 

“Ah, thanks, Katie,” Steve says, answering a girl who congratulated him in the comments. “Like most of you know, I’m an art major, but I’m minoring in violin performance, so I wanted to show you what I’m going to play for my violin exam.”

 

He unzips his case and flips it open, breathing in the scent of rosin that wafts out of it. Steve sees some comments start to fly on his screen and chuckles.

 

“Yeah, it really is like a high,” he answers in regards to the rosin. It’s a relaxing scent and Bucky seems to like the way it sticks to Steve, so that just makes Steve like it more. 

 

“I’m going to play  [ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso ](https://youtu.be/Q0ajM7aL-Vc) by Camille Saint-Saens if that’s okay with everyone,” Steve says, tightening his bow and fitting his shoulder rest in place. He slides his case off his lap and stands, adjusting the tripod, so it can see him while he’s standing. Steve smiles awkwardly at the camera before playing the first note, dragging the bow along the string smooth and strong. 

 

He can hear the soft beeps that tell him that comments are feeding in and hearts and whatever the hell this streaming application does, but he ignores them, getting lost in the music. Steve plays with the tempo a little bit and switches between sustained and short notes to try to make it more exciting since it’s a bit long. 

 

This song is a particularly well-known one, though-- at least, he thinks it is--, so he hopes that his audience is interested. Steve’s channel is extremely eclectic with pieces and parts of whatever he felt like posting intermixed and twined in it from advice videos to speedpaints to rants about the government. Also some violin covers. He has a relatively wide audience, but they’re open minded for the most part, so he doesn’t think any of them will mind the live violin.

 

Steve always gets too immersed to hear anything outside his bubble and barely notices when Bucky comes in, but he’s on the last page, so he figures it’s fine to just ignore him. Bucky huffs, close to his ear and follows along to the music with his chin propped on Steve’s shoulder.  

 

“Sounds good, babe,” Bucky whispers in his ear and a small smirk spreads across Steve’s lips as he finishes with a frenzied flourish. He drops his violin from his shoulder and smiles at the camera, giving it a playful bow.

 

“Yay,” Bucky cheers, kissing Steve’s cheek. “That was so good. You should edit that out, by the way.”

 

Steve freezes and realizes what the insistent beeping at the edge of his subconscious is. 

 

“Buck, it’s a live stream,” he says, tapping at Bucky’s shoulder.

 

He glances to the camera with a what he hopes isn’t a guilty look on his face and moves his gaze to the stream feed. Already, it’s starting to fill with words of praise and also ‘WHOA STEVE WHO’S THE HOTTIE’ which Steve would normally laugh at, but he didn’t mean for them to see Bucky, so he’s kind of panicking.

 

“Shit,” he hears Bucky mutter. Bucky wasn’t in frame for very long, so they didn’t see his whole face, Steve thanks, only long enough to see that he’s ‘hot’. It’s not that he’s purposely hidden Bucky or really has a reason to keep him out of his channel, but Steve figures he’s got a right to his privacy.

 

“I hope you guys liked that,” Steve says, acting like Bucky didn’t come in. “I’ll try to find some time to do something more later, but til then. Bye.” He waves to the camera and shuts everything down, giving a cursory glance to the last few comments.

 

“Your subscribers seem nice,” Bucky says, interrupting the silence that had settled over them. Steve rubs a hand over his face.

 

“Yeah, they’re pretty cool,” Steve says, sitting down next to Bucky. “Should I tell them about us or just let them keep guessing?”

 

Bucky grins mischievously. " _ Yes. _ ”

 

Steve scoots onto Bucky’s lap, straddling his thighs, and touches their noses together. “You’re okay with that? I don’t remember why I never told them about you, but it’s going to be a little weird. As soon as they figure it out, anyway.”

 

Bucky rolls his eyes. “If I’m known as Steve Rogers’s boyfriend instead of some forgotten POW from--”

 

“Nope, stop talking like that,” Steve says, flicking Bucky’s cheek. “You are more than that and also I love you and I hate it when you describe yourself like that.”

 

(The story goes something like this: James Barnes was deployed to Afghanistan and fought for his country. When he was taken as prisoner and tortured and left behind, America didn’t do anything to save him. When he saved himself and six others-- short an arm at that point--, America praised him and also dragged his name through the mud with little regard to how Barnes felt or recovered which resulted in issues for everyone involved.)

 

“It’s a part of me,” Bucky points out but doesn’t argue. 

 

“Part,” Steve says, “not all.”

 

“Oh, Stevie,” Bucky murmurs, voice rough with desire. “You’re too good for me.” He puts his hands on Steve’s hips and runs them lightly over his sides. 

 

“I can think of so many people who would beg to differ, starting with my mother,” Steve says, laughing. He kisses Bucky, soft and sweet, and hugs him.

 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna have fun watching your subs scramble.”

 

***

 

**Moemoe @momois**

**DID YALL JUST SEE WHAT I SAW ON @capnrogers ‘s LIVE STREAM**

 

**Ghost feet @feetghosts**

**@momowrites HOLY SHIT YES. WHO IS THAT GUY??? @capnrogers!! WE NEED ANSWERS #capsmysteryguy**

 

**Mason @amnstrawas**

**WHOa what DiD I JSTU WATHC?? Is that ROgers bf or smth #capsmysteryguy**

 

**Pied Piper Piping @pipingpiper**

**I think we should all calm down because @capnrogers literally never mentioned a boyfriend and clearly was a little panicked when he came into the picture, so maybe they’re trying to keep it on the DL. I’m pretty sure I heard some swearing and Steve Rogers does not swear.**

 

**Ghost feet @feetghosts**

**@pipingpiper BUT!!! okay yeah you’re right. stillllllllllllllll tho**

 

**Steve Rogers @capnrogers**

**Hope you all enjoyed the live stream today! Sorry to cut it short.**

 

***

 

“Hey, guys. It’s been a while since I’ve made a proper video, so I’m sorry that it’s coming in the form of a vlog, but you clicked on it, so you knew what was going to happen,” Steve says, trying to shake some of the grogginess out of his voice. He’s just woken up and turned his camera on which might not have been the smartest idea but too late now.

 

“I’m going to get ready and get Bu-- get up and we’ll be going,” Steve says, smiling inwardly at his slip up. He and Bucky had decided that teasing would be more fun, especially after he showed Bucky the response to the live stream. Bucky makes a puzzled noise beside him and Steve turns off the recording. 

 

“Wake up, Buck. I’ve got my competition today and also we’re vlogging,” Steve says which gets Bucky right up.

 

“I get to film, right?” Bucky asks, plucking the phone from Steve’s hand. Steve shrugs. 

 

“If you want to,” Steve says, ruffling Bucky’s hair. Bucky’s been in Steve’s videos before, but mostly as a passing character. Everyone just assumed that Bucky was a roommate or classmate and Steve never corrected them. Plus, Bucky never got a name, so no one’s ever commented.

 

Before now, anyway.

 

“Need a shower partner?” Bucky asks, leering. Steve gives him a look like  _ behave _ .

 

“Fine but no longer than ten minutes,” Steve says, wagging a finger at Bucky. Bucky smirks. They shower for twenty minutes, but Steve can’t find a reason to complain about it.

 

“The competition is a couple of minutes away walking,” Steve says, dressing in a pale blue button down that Bucky likes and black slacks. They eat a quick breakfast and Steve turns the camera back on. Almost immediately, Bucky gropes him, under the camera’s view, but Steve still glares at him as he slings his violin over his shoulder and checks his music. He won’t be using it for the performance, but he can go over it obsessively before it’s his turn.

 

“This place is nicer than the other one,” Bucky whistles as they step inside the newer building that the competition is at. Steve sees that he’s right. There are a few people milling around since the competition is open for public viewing, but still, it looks huge with towering ceilings and glass walls. The windows make Bucky uneasy, so they stay away from those, and go to check in before being directed to the Green Room. 

 

“You’re gonna do awesome,” Bucky says, kissing Steve’s cheek and looking around furtively. Steve hands his phone off to Bucky to record whatever he feels like since he’s not allowed to record in the Green Room anyway and Bucky grins mischievously.

 

“Thanks. Don’t make it so I have to edit a lot, please,” Steve whispers, pecking Bucky on the lips. He glances to the side and sees that Bucky’s recording them. “Doing great already, jerk.”

 

“Punk,” Bucky says, without missing a beat. “See you later. I’ll be in the back.”

 

Steve waves as Bucky walks towards the audience seating and takes a deep breath, swinging the door of the Green Room open. He finds a corner to unpack in and sits with his knees to his chest, squished between a table and the wall. He sets his violin on top of his case and takes a couple minutes to look over his music because memory slips are a nightmare, especially at these sorts of performances. 

 

He’s playing  [ Viotti’s Concerto No.22 ](https://youtu.be/qJpgs7RhCHs) for this competition and, while it’s not super difficult for Steve, it’s tricky in some parts and he messes up the parts of the end when the notes become shorter and he has to move his fingers a bit faster. 

 

“Still super paranoid, I see,” Steve hears. He jerks out of his musical trance and glances up. 

 

“Hi, Nat,” Steve says, waving her down. Natasha sits on the table in front of Steve. She looks beautiful in a red dress that probably dips a tad too low on the wrong side of risque for a bunch of classical music snobs. Sucks to suck.

 

“Rogers, whatcha playing? I’m doing part of that  [ Mendlesohn piece ](https://youtu.be/o1dBg__wsuo) we were required to learn in high school,” Natasha says. Steve snorts. They weren’t  _ required  _ to learn that piece, but Natasha had made it her goal to learn something ridiculous in freshman year to show up the upperclassmen. It worked, though, so Natasha’s quite fond of that piece.

 

“First movement of Viotti’s 22nd,” Steve murmurs, not completely focused on the conversation. Natasha hums and hops off the table.

 

“Well, I’ll see you later. They called my name. Is James here?” 

 

Steve looks up, smiling. “Um, yeah. He’s near the back if you want to visit him when you’re done. Good luck!”

 

An hour later, Steve’s walking on stage, not really feeling the nerves as he’s welcomed with warm applause. He spots Bucky in the back right away, sitting next to a smug looking Natasha. Steve takes a deep breath and raises his bow before he’s off, sweet notes singing from his violin.

 

He loses sight of the crowd, loses sight of the announcer, his pianist, and becomes completely engrossed in the melody. Steve sways along with it, hoping it looks graceful and not stupid, but he doesn’t really care much since they don’t judge only on appearance. 

 

Steve feels pretty strong about it once he finishes and he’s hit with a wall of sound which he thinks means that the audience found it good, too. He can hear Bucky hollering in a way that’s completely inappropriate for this setting, but he’s reminded Bucky of that plenty of times and he hasn’t stopped, so Steve just accepts that that’s how it’s going to be. At least he only does it for Steve, otherwise Steve would die of embarrassment. 

 

“You were so good!” Bucky yells, tackling Steve as he makes his way out of the Green Room. Natasha is standing to the side looking pleased. 

 

“Thanks. You record it? I wanna hear,” Steve says, smiling at Natasha. “Also, Nat. Did you record her?”

 

“You know I did,” Bucky says, kissing Steve soundly once he’s sure that no one’s watching. Sure, it’s not uncommon to see gay couples, but a good majority of the people at Steve’s string competitions are conservative bigots and they’ve been cussed at before. Steve knows that Bucky doesn’t want a repeat of that, especially since they see most of the same people around town and Bucky’s pretty recognizable with his cybernetic arm.

 

“Now let’s go eat and then grocery shop!” Bucky cheers. Steve raises an eyebrow, amused that he’s so excited about getting food.

 

“Nat, want to come?” Steve asks. Natasha grins.

 

“Sure, let me just put this away,” she says, raising her violin. “I’ll put it in the car. It should be warm enough that it doesn’t hurt it.”

 

Steve nods and they walk to a nearby noodle shop once she comes back. It’s small and uncrowded which is great since the camera doesn’t pick up on voices when there are a lot of them and Bucky hates crowds. 

 

After they order, Steve turns the camera back on and leans it against the wall to prop it up. 

 

“Y’alls, this is my friend Natasha if you don’t remember her,” Steve introduces. Natasha waves to the camera. She knows about Steve’s Youtube-ing and always teases him about it, but she’s starred in a couple of Steve’s videos, so Steve knows she doesn’t actually think bad of him for it. 

 

“Hi,” she says. Bucky is just out of view, sitting a little behind where the camera can see, so only part of his arm can be seen. “You know, I saw something interesting the other day,” Natasha says, eyes flicking to Bucky.

 

“Yeah?” Bucky grunts. 

 

Natasha smirks. “Yep. It was the two of you getting hot and heavy on a live video.”

 

“Nat!” Steve squawks. 

 

“Yes, Steven?” Natasha snarks, beaming.

 

“That-- we weren’t-- that’s not what happened,” Steve stutters, putting his face into his hands. 

 

“Based on the Twitter backlash, I would’ve assumed that’s what happened,” Natasha says, raising an eyebrow. 

 

“That’s just because I didn’t know Stevie was doing a live stream. You watched the video, right?” Bucky asks, taking a sip of his water. Their food comes then and they dig in, pausing the conversation.

 

“Of course I watched the video. That was a nice song choice, Steve,” Natasha says. “It was also pretty clear that JB didn’t know it was a live when you cut the stream short so frantically.”

 

“Was it that bad?” Steve asks, frowning. 

 

Natasha shakes her head. “Nah, it just looked like you remembered something you had to do all of a sudden. Kind of. That something wasn’t James, was it? Because I could’ve done without that thought,” Natasha says, wrinkling her nose. Steve blushes dark red.

 

“No, it-- no. I just-- I haven’t come out to my subscribers and I know it’s kind of obvious now, but I haven’t explicitly said it yet so...,” Steve mumbles, blushing too hard to be taken seriously. Bucky swings an arm over Steve’s shoulders and chuckles.

 

“We covered that earlier in the day, I think,” he says. “We’re playing a game out of it, too. Just going to tease them until they figure it out or we slip up or something. Today Steve’s shooting a vlog and I’m helping.”

 

“Helping,” Steve echoes, sounding incredulous.

 

“ _ Is that why you’re out of frame _ ?” Natasha asks in Russian, nodding to the camera. It’s flipped so they can see what it’s recording.

 

Bucky grins and responds in kind. “ _ Yep. You can see my arm and I think Steve’s just planning on speeding this up or something, so you’ll hear my voice, but they won’t know who it is _ .”

 

“That’s kind of evil,” Natasha says, matching Bucky’s grin. 

 

“I know. It’s going to be so much fun.”

 

***

 

Bucky films Steve getting groceries and occasionally makes a borderline pornographic sound if Steve tosses in something he likes which Steve knows he’ll have to edit out later. 

 

“You’re making this more difficult than usual,” Steve says, snickering into his palm as Bucky zooms in and out on Steve’s face and the cart. 

 

“Maybe I just find your editing hot,” Bucky says, smiling innocently. 

 

Steve snorts. “You find me sitting around at a desk in my pajamas with messy hair and glasses hot?” Bucky nods, sneaking a kiss on Steve’s lips. 

 

“You’re  _ so _ hot. Even better when you’re not dressed at all,” Bucky says, sounding proud of himself. A light blush sparks across Steve’s cheeks and he shushes him, grabbing a bottle of whipped cream that they don’t need and throwing it into the cart.

 

“I should make you start a swear jar except it’s just for whenever you try to make me blush in public. Or start carrying around a thing of soap to make you wash out your mouth,” Steve says. 

 

Bucky rolls his eyes. “But then you’d taste it whenever we kissed and you don’t want that. That’s disgusting.”

 

Steve has to give him points for logical thinking. “Okay, maybe the swear jar, then. C’mon let’s go,” Steve says, waving Bucky to the register.

 

The walk home is peaceful and Bucky seems to find joy in taking aesthetical shots of the trees along the sidewalk. Steve wonders if he should let Bucky use the camera more often since he’s so enthusiastic about this. Maybe he should just make Bucky go outside more than from home to his job at Stark Industries.

 

“Wanna go for a walk after dropping everything off?” Steve asks. Bucky shakes his head, trotting back over to Steve and wrapping his arm around his waist. 

 

“I’m tired,” he says, softly. Steve nods, feeling a bit grateful that Bucky didn’t want to go out since they’ve been out since ten in the morning and it’s almost dinner time, now. 

 

“Alright. Wanna go do something interesting before dropping everything off?” Steve asks. Bucky points at one of the chain pet stores and they walk inside, the bright lights and linoleum flooring a little blinding compared to the setting darkness outside. 

 

“We should get a cat,” Bucky says as they walk around the shop and look at the toys and guinea pigs. He says the same thing about the ferrets and the hamsters and the fish. 

 

“It’s getting dark,” Steve says, tugging Bucky away from the reptile tanks. Bucky nods, turning the camera onto Steve again and Steve smiles wearily at it before handing off his share of the groceries to Bucky and trading for the camera. 

 

“Do you have classes tomorrow?” Bucky asks. Steve shakes his head. 

 

“I’m thinking of interviewing for that teaching job. Oh, hey!” Steve says, remembering that he hasn’t told any of his audience about the interview. “I’m interviewing at the school down the street for a position as an art teacher since I’ve technically got credentials for that. I think I might do some online classes, so I can become a history teacher because history is great.”

 

Bucky chuckles, shaking his head and Steve elbows him in the side. 

 

“Stop laughing at me. You’re going to love it when you get to live out your teacher fantasies,” Steve says, eyeing Bucky with an accusatory glare. Bucky shrugs, barely visible next to him in the dark.

 

“You are my fantasy, darling,” Bucky says sweetly. Steve blushes and he’s suddenly glad for the cover of darkness. 

 

“Alright. On that note, I think we’re done. See you later, guys. I hope you enjoyed today’s vlog!” Steve says, ending the video and slipping his phone back into his pocket. He’ll make a proper ending later when Bucky’s at work.

 

“That was fun,” Bucky says as they’re getting ready for bed. “You did great, today.” Steve nods, shucking off his shirt and lying on top of Bucky. 

 

“Thanks,” Steve mumbles, kissing Bucky’s jaw since that’s what he can reach without moving. He feels Bucky’s laugh in his bones and kisses a light line down Bucky’s neck, ending at his collarbone. “Goodnight, Buck.”

 

Bucky laughs again, wrapping his arms around Steve. “Yeah, night, punk.”

 

***

 

Steve starts editing the video the next morning with Bucky’s occasional input.

 

“You should leave that part in,” Bucky says, pausing Steve’s hand where it was about to cut out a clip of Steve calling Bucky ridiculous. Steve sounds utterly gleeful, even to his own ears, so he agrees and keeps it in.

 

“They’re gonna love that,” Bucky cackles once Steve is finished. Steve rolls his eyes and uploads it to Youtube. He makes a little post about having a new video and links it to all of his social media before shutting down his computer.

 

“Watch Nat’s solo with me?” Steve asks even though Bucky already watched it live yesterday. Bucky nods, taking Steve’s hand and settling next to him on the couch. 

 

Natasha plays beautifully, as always, with a hint of some lethal aura like the melody could wrap around your soul and take you, should you not pay attention to her. It’s enrapturing and Steve loves every second of it. 

 

“Shit,” Bucky murmurs when the video is done. Steve feels that since every time they hear Natasha play is a sort of ‘oh shit’ moment. Always fun. 

 

“That was nice,” Steve says, wryly. “Wanna check to see what people have said so far?” He leans over Bucky’s lap to grab his laptop and tilts the screen, so Bucky can see. 

 

**Rogers No.1 Fan @steverogershasmysoul**

**Okay am I the only one that fucking died at** **6:51** **????? @capnrogers is such a cutie!!**

 

**Clint’s left shoe @cellomajick678**

**HOLY SHIT STEVE IS ADORABLE AHHHH IM SO PROUD OF HIM (who is that dude he’s calling ridiculous at** **6:51** **tho we need answers #capsmysteryguy)**

 

**BYUN BAEKYEOL @exocryxo**

**@steverogershasmysoul @cellomajick678 Yes!!! He’s so happy there wtf like?? I need to know why he’s so happy and thank them such a precious bean (also the dude at** **5:20** **??? he’s been kind of in Steve’s vids sometimes?? #capsmysteryguy ??  is that the roommate or what??)**

 

**Hinata Ratata @hinataratata**

**NATASHA IS MY WIFE WTHATFUK**

**@capnrogers who dat dude pls tell us and stop torturing us we need to knw!!! #capsmysteryguy**

  
  


**J J C R O S S @jjpismyfuckinglife**

**THERE WERE SO MANY PARTS YALL** **2:30** **4:16** **5:20** **6:51** **8:42** **9:12** **!!!! look at all them and you’ll see #capsmysteryguy**

 

**Bucky Barnes @jbbarnes**

**@capnrogers you’re hot when you play violin ;))**

 

Steve gives Bucky a look when he sees the last one and sighs. 

 

“Buck, we’re sitting right next to each other,” Steve says. Bucky puts Steve’s computer to the side pulls Steve onto his lap. 

 

“Now we’re not,” Bucky says, nuzzling him. Steve rolls his eyes. 

 

“You’re a child,” he says, leaning back into Bucky’s hard body and grabbing his laptop back. Bucky watches over his shoulder as responses pour in-- more of the same-- and chuckles every once in a while.

 

**Steve Rogers @capnrogers**

**Fuck you @jbbarnes :)**

 

“Who’s the child now?” Bucky says, poking Steve in the side. Steve turns to kiss Bucky, pulling away just as Bucky tries to deepen it. He snickers at Bucky’s pout.

 

“Still you.”

 

***

 

“Hello, everybody!” Steve says, waving to the camera. He’s sitting on the edge of his and Bucky’s bed with the tripod set in front of him. “It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these ‘traditional’ videos, but I asked y’all to send questions to my advice column email thing, so I’ll be answering those today. It’s not really advice and also not helpful, but you know.”

 

He pauses, pursing his lips as he scrolls through the email. “Um, if you want to do it next time, the email is just captainrogers@amail.com which...yeah. Alright, here we go-- Amalia from Texas wants to know how to get her hair as perfect as mine.”

 

Steve raises an eyebrow as he turns to the camera. “Amalia, a true artist never gives away his secrets,” he chides. 

 

“If you must know, though,” Steve starts, conversationally, “I rub a tablespoon of coconut oil and exactly one cup of blood from a virgin lamb into my roots every couple days for that all natural sheen.”

 

“They’re not serious answers. Please don’t take my advice seriously,” Steve says as he realizes what just came out of his mouth. “I don’t want to be hearing about any mass lamb killings, aight? I literally don’t do anything and my-- it’s kind of always a rat’s nest, so thank you for not thinking so.”

 

Steve laughs awkwardly and glances to the computer again. “Okay, with that said, Kaleigh from Vegas wants to know why recent literature is all shit. Well, I gotta say that I don’t disagree with you, Kaleigh, for the most part,” Steve says, taking a sip of water. “I think it’s mostly just because that’s what the people want and the people of our time suck.”

 

“If you wanted some recs, I quite enjoyed  _ The Song of Achilles _ if you want something sad. For a little something more country greaser-ish and not completely horrible or romance oriented, there’s  _ The Outsiders _ .  _ Anna Karenina _ is pretty good-- isn’t in the same category as  _ The Outsiders  _ to clarify, but that would be quite the thing. There’s also some older things like  _ The Portrait of Dorian Gray  _ or, like,  _ The Odyssey _ . All fun times, so much quality stuff. We don’t need all the recent works.”

 

“Next question! Drake from Canada-- thanks, Drake for putting an entire country but same-- says: ‘I want to learn how to play the violin, but I don’t know how to read music or where to even start. Help!’”

 

“Well, Drake,” Steve starts. “I’d suggest getting an instrument because you can’t really do violin without one or something close. A viola works just fine for beginners because no one knows the difference anyway-- you could probably find one in your nearest dumpster somewhere. Ahem. Learn treble clef! It’s easy just like...ah, shoot I forget what the acronym is.”

 

“‘Every good boy does fine’,” Bucky says, wandering into the room, “and ‘FACE’.”

 

Steve nods. “Right, ‘every good boy does fine’-- E, G, B, D, F-- for all the lines on the staff and FACE for all the spaces. That’s how to read treble clef. And then you’re set, especially if you’re playing viola because no one expects a violist to know what’s going on, really.”

 

Bucky snickers from behind the camera. “You’re horrible. Violists get ragged on too much. What’d they ever do?”

 

“Have you ever listened to my orchestra, Buck?” Steve asks. “We’re good but not  _ that _ good.”

 

Bucky shakes his head. “So mean, Stevie. I should take up viola and prove you wrong.”

 

“Viola is harder since it’s so big and kind of awkward to play,” Steve says, “but that so doesn’t excuse the way most of them play. You might be fine since you’ve got big hands.”

 

“I think I should actually learn to play it since you seem to think all violists are the bane of the earth,” Bucky says, seeming to actually consider it.

 

“Most violinists play viola, too, so not all violists are bad. Nat plays viola sometimes and so do I.  I think it’s probably easier to come from playing violin to viola than just straight up playing viola,” Steve points out. “Just a lot of the time and more often than not they’re a fucking wreck.”

 

“Ooh, you better remember to edit that out, big guy,” Bucky says, gasping dramatically. “Steve Rogers swearing? Unheard of.”

 

Steve flips him off, smiling pleasantly. “Fuck off. Lemme get through a few more of these and we can go eat.”

 

Bucky sighs, slumping onto the floor and leaning against the wall. “ _ Fine _ , but I’m staying here. Don’t think I didn’t hear that blood of the lamb shit earlier. I’m  _ worried _ about you, Rogers.”

 

Steve just quirks an eyebrow. “Mmm, okay. Let’s see here,” Steve mutters, scrolling through more questions. “Clint from New York-- oh my god, Clint is this you?-- alright, Clint from NY wants to know how I ‘art so well’ and also if the reason I don’t-- oh my god. Clint, fuck you,” Steve says, flipping off the camera and laughing. Yep, there’s probably gonna be a lot of editing needed. 

 

“What’d he say?” Bucky asks. “Did he make fun of your height again?”

 

Steve sighs, tossing the laptop to Bucky on the floor. “He asked if the reason I don’t play cello is because they’re all bigger than me and I’m intimidated by big things.”

 

Bucky bursts out laughing. “Obviously it’s not the second thing,” Bucky says, wiggling his eyebrows. 

 

“Maybe I’m suddenly intimidated by big things. I’m sorry, Buck. We can’t be together anymore,” Steve deadpans, taking his computer back.

 

“You saying I’m big?” Bucky asks, amused. Steve blushes, realizing how that sounds. 

 

“Shut up,” he mutters.

 

“Okay, new question since Clint is a dumb butt. Sharon from California wants to know what she should do in the case of a zombie apocalypse.”

 

“Sharon, I think it’s best that we just don’t dwell on things like that,” Steve says, shaking his head. “Personally, I’d probably be hiding under my bed, but let’s be real, what brains are they gonna get from an art major? Yeah, I think they’re all gone to the fumes years ago.”

 

Steve sighs through the next few questions with a couple laughs from Bucky but nothing otherwise. 

 

“Next question, um, Brittany from… Britain--” Bucky snorts and Steve glares at him, but he also wanted to laugh, so he can’t say anything. “-- wants to know how to ask out a guy. She really likes this guy from her Lit class and wonders if I could help her out.”

 

“Depends on what kind of guy he is,” Steve says, shrugging. “I think it all really depends. I’ve only asked out a couple girls and been turned down, like, all of those times, so I’m not sure I’m qualified. As a guy, last time I was asked out, it was with a stupidly direct confession of  _ feelings _ and other gross stuff which I hated.”

 

Steve sees Bucky mouth something out of the corner of his eye and ignores him. “It worked, though, so if your guy likes that, then go ahead. Honestly, if he doesn’t ‘like’ the way you asked him out, then he doesn’t deserve you, Brittany, so just keep that in mind.”

 

Bucky mumbles something under his breath and Steve looks over. 

 

“Didn’t catch that,” Steve says. Bucky shakes his head.

 

“You’re such a sap. You  _ loved _ that,” Bucky says. “I planned it all out for weeks and then I blabbered that and you still love me, so I don’t think there’s a  _ right _ way to ask someone out.”

 

Steve chuckles. “So sweet, my heart.”

 

Bucky rolls his eyes. “Can I choose the next question?”

 

“Sure. I think this’ll be the last one since I’m hungry,” Steve says, handing the computer over. Bucky grins as he scrolls through the questions.

 

“This one,” Bucky chooses, giving the laptop back to Steve. Steve reads over it and smiles softly. 

 

“Last question for today: Gabe from Australia wants to know the best way to come out to someone. Now, Gabe, I’m not sure if this ‘someone’ is your parents or who, but I just want to put it out there that you’re technically not obligated to come out to anyone, in the strictest sense. It might feel necessary, but I’ve come out to maybe three people in my life and everyone else can speculate and suck it because it’s  _ none _ of their business,” Steve says, a little hotter than the question entails. 

 

“Um, so I think, again, it depends on how you want to and how you feel is best? Like I never told my mom, she just assumed and I brought a boy home and she wasn’t all that surprised. I think I just outright said that I liked dick, too, to some of my friends. Two of my friends made a bet and were trading money when I told them I had a boyfriend. Being direct can be helpful if you just want to get it over with, but sitting them down and having a serious conversation is also good.”

 

“Probably better than how I did it,” Steve chuckles, lightening up the mood. “I can demonstrate, if you want. It went a little something like, ‘Hi, everyone. I’m Steve and I’m bisexual and anyone who’s got a problem with it can screw off’ except it was during the first day of my senior year in my art class?” 

 

Steve nods. “I think something like that is decent and to the point if you’re not nervous about it if not in that sort of place. Thanks for the question, Gabe. I hope you found that helpful.” He can hear Bucky trying to choke back his laughter and subtly kicks at him to try to shush him. They just have to get through this closer and then Bucky can laugh all he wants. 

 

“Well, on that note, I hope you enjoyed this segment of my attempt at advising. I don’t think I can go into anything professional real soon, but you tell me. Leave your opinion in the comments below, a thumbs up if you liked this video, and subscribe if you haven’t already! I hope you have a good day,” Steve says, waving and reaching to turn off the camera. 

 

Bucky gets up off the floor, then, and tackles Steve to the bed, wrapping his arms around Steve’s lithe frame. 

 

“You’re such a sap,” Bucky says, kissing Steve’s mouth, his neck, his ear, his cheek. “And you’re horrible at giving advice.”

 

Steve rolls his eyes. “Just jealous,” he mutters. “I came out to my subscribers. You should be happy for me.”

 

Bucky pulls away, gazing at him with a dopey look of affection. “I’m so proud of you,” Bucky whispers against the shell of Steve’s ear as he leans back in. “But also you haven’t tried to hide it ever and you literally told them you didn’t care.”

 

Steve pushes Bucky away and straightens out his clothing. “Yeah, I guess,” Steve hums, taking Bucky’s hand to pull him up. “Eat now?”

 

Bucky beams, shooting off like a rocket. “Race you to the front door.”

 

***

 

**Steve Rogers @capnrogers**

**Ever wondered what to do in the case of a zombie apocalypse? Why you can get away with being a violist as a violinist? I have a new unhelpful advice video that can be found** **here** **that answers all that and more.**

 

**Pet Rock @kirikirikiri**

**OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED**

**ALSO STEVE ROGERS SAID DICK IM**

 

**Orange Julius @etubrute**

**@kirikirikiri BETTER FUCKING BELIEVE IT HOLY shit @CAPNROGERS FUCKING CAME OUT**

**OUT OF NOWHERE TOO**

**WTHAT THE FUCK**

**@capnrogers I’m so proud of you but also dude what**

 

**Hawkeye ;) @clintbarton**

**Steeevvvveeeee @capnrogers why didn’t you answer my question???? You just laughed at it, you’re so meeeaaannnn**

 

**Moemoe @momois**

**Holy crap. Does this mean Steve actually does have a boyfriend?? Is this in response to his slip up during that live??????? #capsmysteryguy ????? @capnrogers why are you keeping us in the dark like this????**

 

**Rogers No.1 Fan @steverogershasmysoul**

**Guys he doesn’t have to tell us anything. I don’t think we should bother him about this (I fucking can’t with the lamb’s blood tho)**

 

**Pet Rock @kirikirikiri**

**@steverogershasmysoul omg ikr LMAO**

 

***

 

“I think you might’ve broken the internet a little bit,” Bucky comments, laying his head in Steve’s lap.

 

Steve shakes his head, running his fingers through Bucky’s hair absentmindedly. “Nah, it’s just hot shit for people to come out. There’s also the deal with you kissing me mid-live stream. It’ll die down in a little.”

 

Bucky hums, nudging into Steve’s touch. “You ready for your exam tomorrow?”

 

Steve shrugs. “You heard it, I’m awesome, yeah?” Steve beams. Bucky chuckles, grabbing Steve’s hand and pressing a kiss to every knuckle. 

 

“Mmm, I don’t know. Sometimes you’re a hell of a punk,” Bucky says, smiling lazily up at Steve. 

 

“Whatever. You love me,” Steve mumbles, tangling his fingers into Bucky’s hair again. Bucky makes a small sound when Steve pulls on it and Steve smirks. 

 

“Feels good,” Bucky says, closing his eyes. They sit in amiable silence for a few minutes, or maybe an hour, and Steve thinks Bucky’s dozed off until he speaks again. 

 

“You’re gonna do so good, Steve,” Bucky whispers against his thigh. Steve smiles softly. 

 

Steve does do great (as fucking expected) and Bucky picks him up after to go get ice cream at the mall near the university. 

 

“ _ Those girls over there are staring at us _ ,” Bucky mumbles in the Russian they save for privacy’s sake, taking a bite of Steve’s ice cream. Steve feels his lips quirk up a little and looks to where Bucky said. There are, indeed, three girls staring very blatantly in their direction. They meet Steve’s eyes and look away quickly, chittering amongst themselves for a short second before looking back up. 

 

Now, Steve is a semi-successful YouTuber, so he’s had a couple of encounters like this before, but never with Bucky. He’s not sure if they’re staring because they recognize him, either, since a lot more people than you’d expect have never seen a gay couple in the 21st century. Who knows, maybe it’s both. 

 

“ _ Maybe they watch my YouTube,” _ Steve says, grinning. Bucky raises an eyebrow. 

 

“ _ You wish _ ,” Bucky says, stealing more of Steve’s ice cream. 

 

“Hey, you have your own,” Steve chastises in English, knocking Bucky’s spoon away. He feels the weight of other eyes on him and turns, barely managing to hold back a flinch as he’s met with the three girls who were looking earlier. 

 

“Hello,” Steve says, easily. Bucky shrinks into himself, burrowing into his hoodie and Steve tries not to frown. 

 

“Hi,” the lead girl says, smiling brightly. “I’m Trin, this is Karly and she’s Rose. We’re big fans of your Captain Rogers channel,” trin says. Steve wants to close his eyes from how  _ present _ she is, but he just smiles.

 

“Thanks, it’s nice to meet you,” Steve says, side-eyeing Bucky. He can see them doing the same and drags his eyes away. “Um, do you want to take a picture?”

 

trin beams and the other two titter excitedly. “Yes! If it wouldn’t be too much trouble. We’re sorry to interrupt your...date?” She says, careful towards the end. 

 

“ _ You think this girl is going to spread shit?” _ Bucky asks, Russian again, so the girls don’t understand. They look at him curiously with a bit of trepidation and Steve figures that Bucky can sound awful scary to strangers, especially when he under his hood like that.

 

“ _ I don’t think it matters since we were just seeing how long we could go without them finding out,” _ Steve fires back. “ _ Unless you don’t want them to know which is fine. I can lie.” _

 

Bucky looks at Steve for a couple seconds before extending his right hand towards the girls. “Bucky,” he says, introducing himself gruffly. The three girls shake his hand, a little confused, and Steve steps up.

 

“Which one of you has the camera?” Steve asks, smiling pleasantly. Karly raises her hand, shyly, and they take a few pictures with some awkward smiling on Steve’s part. 

 

“Do you want to join in, Bucky?” Rose asks, glancing to Bucky who’s just brooding at the table. He furrows his brow, looking a little bit panicked to Steve and Steve shakes his head, biting back a laugh.

 

“Nah, he’s fine. He doesn’t like pictures,” Steve says, vaguely. Bucky used to love pictures, but he’s a bit wary of getting his face plastered anywhere now. (Steve thinks it’s because of the backlash after Bucky came back from that war camp where his face was dragged across the news for weeks and people shared their opinions on something they could never understand.)

 

“Okay,” Trin says. “Thank you for, um, taking the time to do this with us. I actually play violin and you’re a huge inspiration.”

 

“Wow, thanks,” Steve says, eyes widening. “I can't believe I’m an inspiration to anyone, but it makes me happy to hear that.”

 

“You’re awesome, dude,” Rose chirps. “Have fun on the rest of your date! You’re really cute together.”

 

Steve blushes, rubbing the back of his neck. “Um, thanks.” Bucky laughs at him as the girls leave. 

 

“That happen to you often?” Bucky asks as they walk out of the shopping center. Steve shrugs, leaning into Bucky.

 

“Sometimes. Not really since I’m kind of easy to pass over if you’re not looking for me. I’m only mildly successful, afterall,” Steve says, chuckling.

 

Bucky squeezes his hand, dragging him ever closer. “That just means I get more of you to myself,” Bucky says.

 

***

 

**Trin @trinfinwin**

**Met @capnrogers today and it was the best thing ever. He’s so nice!**

**#capsmysteryguy #whoisbucky**

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**Amberose Light @ladycaramel**

**AHHHHH SO ME AND @trinfinwin AND @ikarly MET @capnrogers AND HES SO FUCKING COOL OMG**

**(Also he had a dude with him. Go Cap!) #whoisbucky #capsmysteryguy**

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**Karly Rae Gypsum @ikarly**

**Okay so this might be a reach but when I saw @capnrogers today he was with this guy named Bucky and he looked pretty close to that guy in the live**

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**#whoisbucky #capsmysteryguy**

 

***

 

“Stevie, where are you?” Bucky calls into the apartment. Steve raises his hand from his spot on the couch and Bucky laughs. He plucks Steve’s sketchbook from his fingers and puts it on the coffee table, ignoring Steve’s protests.

 

“Mmm, hello,” Bucky says, nosing Steve’s neck and planting a couple kisses there. “How was your day? First day at the school, right?” After the interview, the school had pretty much hired Steve right away because their last teacher had a family emergency and the kids were getting restless. It’s only for the last couple weeks before summer break, so Steve figured it’d be a nice trial run.

 

Steve nods, glancing wistfully in the direction of his half inked drawing. “Kids are really fucking messy. I think I’ve got some paint in my hair,” he says, smiling wearily. “It’s Friday, though. Everyone’s always restless on Fridays.” 

 

“You’ve got some blue behind your ear,” Bucky says, rubbing it away. Steve laughs, shaking his head.

 

“I have no idea how that got there,” Steve says, making some room for Bucky as he hops over the armrest. “How was Stark?”

 

Bucky huffs. “He wants to ‘fix’ my arm again. I keep telling him that it’s working fine, but he wants to experiment. I was subjected to three hours of ‘Buckybot, I know what’s best for you and I think you need rocket blasters’.” He rolls his eyes, muttering something about how he probably wouldn’t be allowed through airport security.

 

“What does Stark think you’d do with rocket blasters,” Steve says, dryly. It’s a legitimate question since Bucky’s boss is a genius but a scary one.

 

“I mean, I’d be armed at all times,” Bucky says, snickering at his pun. 

 

Steve bites his shoulder. “Fuck off. That was terrible.”

 

“It wasn’t that bad,” Bucky says, butting Steve’s forehead with his. “What do you want to do tonight?”

 

Steve shrugs, noncommittally. “Want to eat? It’s almost seven.”

 

Bucky’s mouth quirks up and his eyes darken. “Only hungry for one thing, sweetheart,” he whispers, voice dropping an octave. Steve shivers as Bucky climbs on top of him, pushing Steve back onto the couch cushions.

 

“Yeah?” Steve asks, swallowing thickly. “What’s that?” His eyes flick to Bucky’s lips, then back to his eyes, blown and eager.

 

Bucky kisses him, hot and wet and messy. “Wanna fuck on the couch?” Bucky breathes, smirking. Steve shakes his head, but he’s unable to draw himself from the slick heat of Bucky’s mouth which cuts down his argument a bit. Bucky hums against his skin and Steve forgets every reasonable thought he’s ever had.

 

They end up fucking on the couch. Then on the floor. Twice.

 

“I think I have rug burn,” Steve mutters, on all fours on the floor trying to find his shirt. He’s feeling sated but sore and somewhat regretful because they were literally twenty feet from not getting rug burn. Something soft hits him in the face and he mumbles his thanks, flopping down, so he’s laying flat on the floor with his face buried in the shirt. 

 

“Need someone to kiss it better?” Bucky asks, kissing the back of Steve’s bare thigh. “Goddamn, you’re so pretty, Steve. I could go again if you want.” Steve groans. 

 

“No, stop. I can’t go again,” Steve complains. Bucky bites Steve’s thigh playfully before pulling off.    
  
“Fine, fine. I got a good three rounds out of you anyway,” Bucky says, sighing like three rounds isn’t an abnormal thing. Steve mumbles something unintelligible into his shirt and Bucky grins. He lays on his stomach next to Steve, right arm thrown around Steve’s shoulders and tucked under his chin, so they can look at Bucky’s phone together.    
  
“Why are #whoisbucky and #capsmysteryguy trending on Twitter, Stevie?” Bucky huffs, poking Steve in the cheek.    
  
“Dunno, ask yourself,” Steve mumbles, tired and barely there. Bucky’s eyes soften and he sits up with a groan.    
  
“Want to go to bed?” Bucky asks, rolling Steve over.    
  
“Wanted the bed two hours ago,” Steve gripes, closing his eyes. He feels warm hands snake under his shoulders and the back of his knees and Steve is off the ground, scrunched in Bucky’s arms in a princess carry.    
  
“Hell, Buck. Put me down, I can walk,” Steve says, struggling weakly in Bucky’s hold. Bucky chuckles, straightening up and walking to their bedroom, dumping Steve gently onto the covers.    
  
“Sure you could’ve,” Bucky says, walking out of the room. He comes back with a towel and starts to wipe Steve down, efficient but lingering strokes.    
  
“Should shower,” Steve says, rolling to the side. Bucky stops him with a flat hand, glaring Steve into submission. 

 

“You literally couldn’t walk to the bed,” Bucky says, flicking Steve in the forehead. Steve grumbles some swears under his breath but doesn’t argue otherwise and Bucky continues towel bathing him. 

 

“You hungry?” Bucky asks after he’s satisfied. Steve shakes his head. He hears Bucky say something about making them sandwiches, but he’s already drifting off. 

 

***

 

“Steve, your fucking phone,” Bucky murmurs against Steve’s neck, the vibrations coursing through Steve’s skin like a cheap thrill. 

 

“Where?” Steve asks, groggily. Bucky shrugs, turning over to leave Steve to his own issues. Steve rolls off the bed in a crumpled heap and finds his phone in the living room where his pants laid forgotten yesterday. 

 

He turns his phone on and almost starts to cry at the sheer amount of notifications on his home screen. Steve doesn’t usually get a ton of DM’s or thousands of new followers pouring in everyday or much of the sort, so he has most of his notifications on, but today he regrets that decision more than ever. It seems that his follower count has doubled overnight and he’s been tagged in too many things to comprehend. The hashtag ‘whoisbucky’ seems to be at the top of that list. 

 

“Fucking hell,” he mutters, hopping from account to account. It doesn’t make sense for him to blow up so suddenly unless— he traces the thread back to a girl named Trin which he remembers. “Well, shit.”

 

Steve scans her post quickly, then the others and the amount of retweets it got and, crap, maybe this is starting to make sense. Actually, still not really because Steve’s not quite sure why a hashtag and couple of teenagers would get him thousands of people’s acknowledgement overnight. Some people are too invested in the personal lives of random other people on the internet. 

 

“Buck, I think we might have to come clean sooner than later,” Steve calls. Bucky stumbles out of the bedroom and gives Steve a Look™️. 

 

“ _ Coffee first. Then we’ll talk _ ,” Bucky mumbles in stilted Russian, starting up the machine. Steve listens to the coffeemaker gurgle and almost falls back asleep if not for the incessant vibrating of his phone. 

 

“Alright, what happened? Is this about that hashtag-- because I asked you about that yesterday,” Bucky asks, sipping at a piping cup of coffee. He offers one to Steve-- black with a crap ton of sugar-- which he takes gratefully. 

 

“I don’t remember that but yes,” Steve mutters. Bucky looks smug and Steve groans. “Don’t--”

 

“I fucked you  _ good _ , Stevie,” Bucky says, proudly. Steve rolls his eyes, downing half his mug in a quick second.

 

“You fucked me  _ up _ ,” Steve says, fighting off a blush. “Could barely get over here without tripping.” Bucky shrugs, but he smirks at Steve and wiggles his eyebrows. 

 

“So the hashtag?” Bucky asks, throwing Steve a lifeline. Steve nods, feeling his blush cool off. 

 

“The ‘#whoisbucky’, yeah? I think that’s the new one. Those three girls got it popular and they’ve got a ton of followers and now  _ I’ve _ got a ton of followers and way too many people asking me who the hell ‘Bucky’ is. If he’s my ‘mystery guy’,” Steve says with some exasperated hand gestures. Bucky lips quirk, half amused.

 

“Why don’t you tell em?” Bucky asks, sitting on the floor next to Steve.

 

“Too hard,” Steve mumbles. “Too easy, also.” He makes grabby hands for Bucky’s coffee since his own cup is empty. “That is disgusting,” he says, wrinkling his nose and shoving the mug back into Bucky’s hands. Bucky shrugs, gulping it down happily.

 

“Live stream?” Bucky suggests, laughing. He’s probably remembering how the last time went which is kind of funny to Steve too. 

 

“Maybe,” Steve says. “What if we did, like, one of those ‘my boyfriend does my makeup’ and that’s how I introduce you. Is that too mean?”

 

Bucky bursts out laughing and throws a heavy arm over Steve’s shoulders. “Rogers, that would be horrible. Don’t do that to them. Especially since there are so many more ‘thems’ now,” he says. Bucky had taken Steve’s phone and scrolls through the tweets eagerly. 

 

“Live stream it is, then,” Steve says, reclaiming his phone.

 

**Steve Rogers @capnrogers**

**Well, it looks like #whoisbucky has blown up pretty quick which I was not expecting at all. Live stream at 4pm EST tomorrow. I’ll answer whatever y’all want from me :)**

 

“Wow. So suspenseful, Stevie,” Bucky whistles. Steve scowls, pushing Bucky away from where he’s started nosing into Steve’s skin. 

 

“It’s because I haven’t looked in the mirror yet, but I probably look like I’ve been mauled. Certainly feels like it,” Steve grumbles. He rubs at his neck, subconsciously, and Bucky leans back in to kiss lightly where Steve guesses the hickeys are. 

 

“Sorry, baby. You taste fucking delicious, though,” Bucky says, licking a hot stripe up Steve’s cheek. Steve scrunches his nose in disgust.

 

“ _ Bucky _ ,” Steve reprimands, hoping that his voice conveys everything he’s feeling but none of the desire if strikes in him. Bucky holds up his hands and back off.

 

“Okay, okay. You could wear a scarf, just saying,” Bucky says. “Want sandwich? I made one for you last night, but you fell asleep.”

 

“Who’s fucking fault is that?” Steve scoffs. Bucky stands and ruffles Steve’s hair, hauling him up along with. 

 

“Mine, thank you very much.  Now, let’s put some food in you,” Bucky says, pulling Steve to the kitchen table.

 

***

 

“Okay, this is way more people than have ever been on one of my lives before,” Steve says, clicking through the barrage of comments pouring onto his screen. “Hi to everyone new and old. I’m going to wait til a couple more people join before talking, so hold your horses.”

 

Bucky snickers next to him, just out of the lense’s field of vision, and Steve knocks his knee against Bucky’s. He grabs his sketchbook to pass the time, lightly penciling in the lines to Bucky’s jawline. 

 

“Hmm, I guess this is enough,” Steve says, calmly setting his sketchbook aside when the view count gets to around three thousand. Holy damn that’s a lot of people. 

 

“Hi, my name’s Steve for anyone who, um, doesn’t know,” Steve says, waving awkwardly. “I saw that I got a lot of new people hopping on the train, so thanks guys. Really appreciate it. Scared the hell out of me when my phone froze the other day. Had to turn off my notifications.” He laughs, rubbing the back of his neck before realizing his scarf-- yes, the scarf to cover his hickeys, sue him-- is in his way. Pulling his hand away, Steve frowns at the way he doesn’t really know how he’s supposed to start with this all.

 

Luckily, there are plenty of questions crashing in and Steve can see a theme among them pretty quickly.

 

“I’m not sure where to start, but I think I know what most of you want,” Steve says, taking Bucky’s hand and pulling him on screen. “This is Bucky. He’s my boyfriend which I’m sure a lot of you already guessed. And now he’s not a mystery anymore.”

 

Steve’s pretty sure he’s smiling like an idiot, but he doesn’t care because damned if Bucky isn’t something to be proud of. Bucky nods to the camera, plastering on a charming smile. Steve almost wants to get Bucky out of there and cut off the stream again because he looks so uncomfortable, but Bucky had said he was okay with it and he’d handle it if he wanted to go.

 

“Lots want to know...hmm...how long we’ve been dating,” Steve hums, skimming the new comments with mild amusement. “How long’s it been, Buck? Like seven--”

 

“Eight,” Bucky corrects, softly. 

 

“Right, our anniversary was a couple months ago, so it’s been eight years,” Steve says, nodding with conviction. “I was sixteen when we started dating.”

 

The speed at which new comments and questions start pouring in is almost comical and Bucky’s eyes widen minimally as he starts to read through them.

 

“Gosh, chill. I’ll be here all day,” Steve jokes. If anything, that just makes more people start to chip into the growing mass and Steve holds up his hands. 

 

“Okay, so thanks to everyone who says that we’re quote ‘adorable’. Highschool sweethearts is quite the trope, huh,” Steve snickers, elbowing Bucky. Bucky rolls his eyes, finally relaxing a bit.

 

“So is childhood best friends and having to say goodbye to him because he goes off to war,” Bucky says, a hint of teasing exasperation laced in his voice. Steve laughs, freely since they actually joke about Bucky’s departure often. Sure, it was one of the saddest moments of Steve’s life, but Steve would write Bucky letters with ‘when will my boyfriend come back from the war’ written all over them and after he got back, safely and a hero, Steve just looked back on those days with glee because they were all one day closer to getting Bucky home.

 

“Hmm, they all want to hear more of your voice,” Steve says, scanning the influx of people fangirling over Bucky. Steve understands the feeling. “How about you introduce yourself?”

 

Bucky scrunches his nose. “ _ Do I have to?” _ He asks, switching to Russian and only half serious. Steve shrugs.

 

“ _ Only if you want. Anything you want, Yasha,” _ Steve says, winking. Bucky flashes him his signature deadpan look before turning to the camera.

 

“Hi, I’m Bucky,” Bucky starts off with, waving awkwardly. “I’m an engineer at Stark-- am I supposed to say that?” 

 

Steve gives him a clueless gesture. “I think I’ve mentioned that I live in New York a couple times. Saying where you work is a bit close, but you’ve already said it.”

 

Bucky runs a hand through his hair. “Um, please don’t stalk me at work. Ton-- Mr. Stark might take you up to the lab and use you as a test subject and I really don’t need that on my conscience.” 

 

Steve chuckles. Tony would probably kidnap someone and hold them until Bucky agreed to let him do more tinkering on the arm. It’s one of Tony’s greatest creations, but it’s getting old-- or so he says--, so he’s always on Bucky’s back about making ‘modifications’. 

 

Which Bucky is understandably wary of. 

 

“Yep, well, that’s me,” Bucky finishes, smiling lopsidedly. Steve’s heart melts just a little bit and he wants to kiss Bucky because he did a good job, but a side glance to the camera makes him hold himself back because if he did, he’s sure someone would turn it into a gif and blackmail him with it somehow or just embarrass him with it. Hell, Bucky would find it and turn it into a gif to make Steve blush. 

 

“Alright, what else do you nosy people want to know,” Steve mutters, scrolling through the new comments. “Okay, some of you want to know how my interview went. Thanks for asking! I got the job and I came home with paint all over me and it was great,” Steve says, beaming. Bucky’s lips quirk the tiniest bit. 

 

“He was a mess, honestly. Even had some paint behind his ears, hell if I know how it got there,” Bucky chirps, giving Steve a false frustrated look. Steve shoves him and Bucky barely moves an inch which is to be expected since Bucky’s got practically a hundred pounds on him. But still. 

 

“And I’m also not the one who comes home covered in grease everyday, smart ass. You go to work with clean hair and come back with it greased down like it was on purpose,” Steve sighs. He hears more beeping from the laptop and nods before he catches himself. 

 

“Yep, Buck and I live together. I think there was some speculation about a roommate at some point? I don’t remember, but Bucky has been, basically, my roommate for a few years,” Steve says. He scrolls through more messages with a fond smile.

 

“ _ You should answer the sex question,” _ Bucky says, slyly. Steve reddens, shaking his head rapidly with pursed lips. 

 

“ _ No, fuck you.” _

 

_ “Later, sweetheart. Later,” _ Bucky winks. 

 

“I hope none of you speak Russian,” Steve says. 

 

“I forced Steve to learn it with me in highschool and then on in college. I thought it’d be fun to have a sort of secret language though I do know there’s a population that speaks Russian, yes. I’m a little Russian myself,” Bucky says, anticipating the next questions. 

 

“Comes in handy,” Steve agrees, adding on some more. “Buck couldn’t quite wrap his tongue around my Irish, so I just went along with Russian.”

 

Bucky raises an eyebrow and Steve feels the oncoming innuendo before he even says a word. “Don’t, Buck,” Steve tries. 

 

“ _ You know I’m great at wrapping my tongue around your Irish,” _ Bucky says with a smug grin. 

 

Steve groans. “I really hope none of you speak Russian now. If you do, just keep it to yourselves. Don’t take Bucky all too seriously.” 

 

He clears his throat and tries not to smile at the way the comments section is freaking out over what they’re saying. Luckily, no one’s translated yet, so Steve thanks his Russian audiences for being loyal. Briefly, he hopes that Natasha doesn’t watch the stream later because she’d definitely translate. Happily. 

 

“Right, um, next thing, let’s see…”

 

“Bucky isn’t my real name. I know it’s real strange,” Bucky says, squinting at the comments column. “It’s a nickname from my sister. Short for Buchanan because my parents hate me.” Bucky grins at the camera. “Just kidding. Love you, ma. My name is James Buchanan and my sis couldn’t say that when she was little, so she decided ‘Bucky’ was me.”

 

“Most people call me James, but I like Bucky more. ‘Specially since it’s what Stevie calls me.”

 

Steve sighs at the reactions in the comments. So much cooing over how adorable that story is and how adorable they are and  _ god _ . Well, they’re just a bunch of saps, aren’t they. He barely holds back a groan when a new trend starts in the column. 

 

“You want us to kiss,” Steve says, sounding like defeat. Bucky perks up next to him and Steve wants to bash his head against the table. He’s not...opposed to it, exactly, but he feels about as easy about it as he would kissing Bucky in front of his students. Which is to say not very.

 

“C’mon, Stevie.” There’s with the nicknames again. God, Steve is so weak. “Do it for the internet.”

 

Steve sighs, dramatically, and pecks the corner of Bucky’s mouth. “There, happy? You technically already saw us kiss if you watched that live stream a couple weeks ago.” He can practically hear the cheers coming from the computer. 

 

Bucky makes a disappointed noise and he clicks his tongue. “ _ You can do better than that, can’t you?” _ He’s baiting him, Steve knows it. Bucky knows it’ll work and of course it does. It always does. 

 

Steve shrugs because fuck it and Bucky’s eyes light up with anticipation as they meet Steve’s steely ones. He puts a hand on the back of Bucky’s neck and pulls him forward, pausing to stare at Bucky’s lips for a second (they’re very nice, pink and curved like Cupid’s bow-- Steve would kiss them all day if he could and Bucky would let him) and they’re nose to nose. 

 

He can feel the dare in the breath they share before Steve dives in, tangling his fingers into Bucky’s ponytail and undoing it right away, so he can run his hands through the strands. It’s probably a bit too heavy for maintaining decency, a little on the wrong side of too much tongue, a little more than the commenters wanted or were expecting, but Steve can’t help but get a tiny bit carried away. Bucky brings out the worst in him, he’ll say.

 

“Alright, there we go,” Steve says, a bit breathless as he pushes Bucky away. He fixes his scarf and his hair a bit before smiling pleasantly at the camera. “Well, that was fun, right? I hope I answered a few of your questions and satisfied your thirst because damn, you’re all so thirsty, I swear. I think we’ll end this here today. See you later.”

 

Steve waves goodbye as he shuts down the program, Bucky following suit, if a little more dazedly. 

 

“You’re great, Buck, you know?” Steve asks, climbing into Bucky’s lap. Bucky nods, hope washing into his blue, blue eyes. 

 

“Does that mean--”

 

“We’re doing it on the bed this time,” Steve says, leaving Bucky behind the next second. He can almost imagine the gaping mouth and the wide eyes that follow him before Bucky gathers the wits to get off his ass and follow himself. What can he say? Bucky always brings out the worst in him. 

 

***

 

**Ghost feet @feetghost**

**Omg Steve and Bucky are so fucking cute I can’t**

**And they learned Russian for the sole purpose of talking secretly**

**I can’t believe it (if any russians wanna help a brother out pls)**

**#stucky #mysterysolved**

 

**Natasha Romanov @nataliaromanova**

**@feetghost I got you girl hmu**

 

**STucky made me nUT @etubrute**

**AHHHHHHH THEYRE ADORABLe lfasdhflksdahfdklsa @capnrogers I need more**

**HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEARTS??? SOMUCH LOVE IM**

**#stucky #mysterysolved**

 

**Lewisstan @stanningmyself**

**I know no one else cares probably but that was James Barnes. STEVE ROGERS IS DATING JAMES BARNES HOLY FUCK.**

**Do you know who James Fucking Barnes is????**

**HE’S LITERALLY MY IDOL.**

**Also an american war hero, no thanks to america. I love them both so much more now.**

**#stucky #barnes #mysterysolved**

 

**STucky made me nUT @etubrute**

**@stanningmyself NO SHIT??? THATS SO AMAZING WHHHAAAATTT??**

**#stucky**

 

**Pet Rock @kirikirikiri**

**how has Steve kept this from us so long I don’t understand**

**eight years is a fucking long time what**

**Didn’t bucky say something about CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS??????**

**@capnrogers WHY DIDNT THIS COME UP DURING THE LIVE**

**#stucky #questionsthatneedanswers**

 

**Rogers No.1 Fan @steverogershasmysoul**

**They got really into that kiss at the end I didn’t know Cap had it in him. Yay for Cap :D #stucky**

 

**trin @trinfinwin**

**Omg I can’t believe that tag blew up so fast but I have never been so glad omgomg WOW #stucky #mysterysolved**

 

***

 

“Steve, I just gained two hundred followers,” Bucky says as Steve walks through the front door. Steve dumps his bag on the floor and goes over to the kitchen where Bucky is sitting on the floor, munching on cereal.

 

“Really?” Steve asks. He peers over Bucky’s shoulder and chuckles. “I guess some of them are smarter than we realized. You’re pretty cool, though.”

 

Bucky sighs, tilting his head up at Steve. “I’m the coolest. Also, they’re asking me about you, what do I say?”

 

Steve shrugs. “Whatever you want, I guess. As long as it isn’t incriminating and doesn’t ruin my pure image.”

 

“You don’t have a pure image anymore, Captain,” Bucky scoffs. A blush starts to make its way up Steve’s neck and he pouts. 

 

“You’re right, probably,” Steve mutters, reluctantly. He sits on the floor next to Bucky, holding his hand out for some cereal. “Any of them google you, yet? Find out actually how cool you are?” Steve pulls out his phone and goes onto Twitter, idly scrolling through.

 

“Yeah, lots of people think you’re great for it,” Bucky says. Steve nods, finding it for himself. A crap ton of the familiar things like people contacting him to try to get an interview with Bucky are there, somehow when Bucky came back, they nosed into his life and figured out who was closest. There’s also...praise? And a few war buffs who admire Bucky a lot and decided to come check his boyfriend out. Interesting. 

 

“People want to know how we met because they figured out it was before you were-- you went away,” Steve says, left shoulder pressed against Bucky’s right. He inclines his head slightly to show Bucky and Bucky chuckles. 

 

“Probably wanna see my arm too if they found out about my POW thing,” Bucky mutters, only a small amount of bitterness creeping into his voice. Steve gives him a sad look. 

 

“We can still shut it down, you know?” Steve says, rubbing circles into Bucky’s thigh. Bucky shakes his head, a little stiff.

 

“Nah, Stevie. It was all over the news forever,” Bucky says, more casual than he ought to be. “It’s not like it was private anyway; they just know about you now.”

 

Steve frowns. “They knew about me back then, too.” Steve says lightly. 

 

Bucky pauses, staring at Steve for a long moment like he’s seeing him in a different light for the first time. Then he chuckles. “I guess they did. And you know what? You’re the best part about me, so they learned all of my shit-- good and bad-- and they still decided to talk about the bad. That means this time they’ll talk about the good. And I know I’m right since they’re already talkin’ bout you, Steve.”

 

“God, you’re so sappy,” Steve says, unable to say what he really wants. That he’s not the best part about Bucky Barnes, not by a long shot. That he wants Bucky to see every fucking amazing thing about himself that is all Steve can see, the man that exudes his presence and wreaks havoc on Steve’s senses. See that Steve loves him so fucking much. Bucky pushes a hand through Steve’s hair, making it stand up oddly. Steve remembers the gesture from when they were children and Steve would get into fights with anyone and everyone and Bucky would do that because he was  _ so glad _ Steve wasn’t dead or worse. 

 

“I’m the worst,” Bucky agrees, “but you’re dating me, so who’s really winning?”

 

Steve grins because it’s absolutely and undeniably him. 

 

***

 

“Today we’re doing the ‘my boyfriend does my makeup’ thing that’s old news, but my friend, Natasha, wanted me to and stereotyped that ‘all gay couples do it’,” Steve sighs, shaking his head, “so I guess we will. Natasha bought/let me borrow all this makeup, by the way, because I don’t really wear any besides concealer.”

 

“You’d look great in makeup, Steve. You should try doing it every so often,” Bucky croons, sitting cross legged on the bed next to him. Steve flashes him an offended look. 

 

“I always look great, Buck. Don’t patronize me,” he says, turning his nose up slightly. Bucky laughs at him. 

 

“Anyway,” Steve continues, “it’s not me doing the makeup. Bucky, I’m trusting you with my face today.”

 

“ _ Don't you always _ ,” Bucky murmurs in Russian which Steve hits him for. 

 

“ _ I might have to start adding subtitles to my videos if you do that _ ,” Steve mutters, switching with him, unconsciously. He shakes it off, going back to English. 

 

“I’m just asking that you don’t poke my eye out or something. I don’t know what any of this is or where it goes so... You’ve always been a better problem solver than me,” Steve says. “And I’ve been told I’m not allowed to look til the end.”

 

“I think I’ll be fine. And I’m not going to poke your eye out,” Bucky says, rolling his eyes. “I have excellent aim, Stevie, or don’t you know.”

 

Steve glares at him, a reprimand on the tip of his tongue, and Bucky throws his hands up. “Oh my— I was a sniper! Stop thinking like that, bad Steve. Watch closely, guys. This is Steve’s true self,” Bucky says, but he winks at the end, removing all cred he might’ve gotten. 

 

“Here,” Steve grumbles, shoving Natasha’s bag of goodies in Bucky’s direction.

 

“We’re starting?” Bucky asks, suddenly panicked. 

 

“Yeah. You’re up, big guy,” Steve says, smirking. He’s glad he isn’t in charge of the makeup since he actually has no clue what any of it is. 

 

The way Bucky’s freaking out, looking between all the tiny clear things, Steve is a bit worried. Bucky has sisters, so Steve’s sure that Bucky’s at least seen these things before— more often than Steve has which is is mostly just some art girls wanting to try out things on Steve’s face because he’s ‘so fine boned’ or each other to try out new techniques or whatever it is. Steve’s sure that if Bucky tries, he can probably do it just fine.

 

Who knows— Bucky’s naturally good at pretty much everything, so Steve could be blown out of the water by the results. By the way Bucky’s staring hopelessly and laid out everything on the bed, Steve doesn’t have much hope for that. 

 

“Alright, I have no fucking clue what’s supposed to go on first, but this, the fuck, primer? I guess this goes first,” Bucky says, pouring some onto his hands and patting it awkwardly onto Steve’s face. Steve flinches at the cold, but it’s quickly soothed by the rough warmth of Bucky’s hands. 

 

“That makes sense,” Steve mumbles. “What next?”

 

Bucky shrugs. “Uh, foundation? Foundation sounds about right since it’s the bottom layer or whatever.”

 

Steve couldn’t give any opinion on it if he tried, so he stays quiet and lets Bucky apply the nude colored shade to his skin with an egg looking sponge— blender?— in swift, dabbing strokes.

 

“I think I’m only supposed to put a little at a time, right? Is that right?” He asks the camera like the audience is going to help him. Unsurprisingly, no reply comes and Bucky turns back to his canvas, dabbing more foundation until Steve’s skin feels pretty covered. 

 

“That’s a good color match, actually. Props to Natalia. Do you need concealer? I don’t think you do,” Bucky says which means he can’t find it. Steve snickers. 

 

“I have some of my own,” Steve offers, but Bucky waves a dismissive hand, scanning the array of makeup in front of him. 

 

“Okay now…..eyes! I think Becca used to do eyes next, but I might be wrong, who the fuck knows,” Bucky says, plucking the mascara from the pile. “Shit, there are so many eye things here. What do you even use it all for? How do you know what to start with?”

 

Steve shrugs. “It’s not my stuff. Just all part of the process, Buck. I think start with the eyeliner.”

 

“ _ Shush, you’re not supposed to help me _ ,” Bucky says, holding up the mascara like a weapon. Steve feels the urge to move away from Bucky’s hand, but there’s a gloved hand on his neck, holding him steady as Bucky bites his lip in concentration. 

 

“Wait, do you close your eyes for this? Actually, no just— don’t move, Steve,” Bucky sighs, delicately touching the tool to Steve’s eyelashes. “Damn, Steve, you’re so pretty. Your eyelashes are long as hell.” He works quickly and Steve’s comes out in the form of a whoosh of air. Too soon, it seems, as Bucky holds something that looks like—

 

“Time for eyeliner,” Bucky says. It lands on Steve like a threat and he’s sure Natasha just wanted them to do this because she wanted to see Steve go blind at Bucky’s hand. 

 

Steve grabs Bucky’s wrist. “If you stab me, we're breaking up,” Steve says, only half joking. 

 

Bucky winks at him, licking Steve’s nose to make him let go which Steve does. Steve wrinkles his brow and wonders if Bucky just ate foundation off his face. 

 

“I’ll start believing that threat when you make good on it, honey,” Bucky says, raising the eyeliner again. Steve huffs because Bucky knows (and Steve knows) that he’ll most likely never make good on it ever. 

 

“Let's get this over with,” Steve mutters. “Eyes open or closed?”

 

“Open,” Bucky says after a moments deliberation. “What do you want? Winged eyeliner, yes. I can see it.” He nods his head, turning Steve’s head from side to side and Steve groans. 

 

“I have steady hands, babe. Sniper, yeah? The Commandos would be sad that you have so little faith in their CO,” Bucky says, catching Steve off guard. Steve chokes on a laugh and makes sure to hold still as Bucky draws the eyeliner in careful lines across Steve’s eyelids. 

 

“That actually looks pretty good,” Bucky says, humming appreciatively as he looks at Steve from different angles. 

 

“What’s next, Buck?” Steve asks, glancing down at the slowly diminishing pile. 

 

“Um, eyeshadow?” Bucky says, more a question than anything else. He picks up the eyeshadow palette and his face twists in confusion. 

 

“Am I supposed to have a brush for this?” Bucky asks, lost. 

 

Steve bites his bottom lip, trying not to smile. “Maybe the short one,” Steve suggests, pointing at the small array of brushes that Natasha also bought. 

 

Bucky huffs a string of Russian curses and rubs the tip of the brush in a glittery gray eyeshadow. 

 

“Close your eyes,” Bucky says, lightly pressing against Steve’s eyelid. “I’ll do that smokey eye thing? It’ll look like you have a black eye, but that’s not too different than normal.” Steve feels something dust across his cheeks and Bucky chuckles. 

 

“I think some of the eyeshadow got a little...off track. Already did your face, though, so I’m not going to do anything about it,” Bucky says, moving onto the next eye. “I think I’ll even it out.” Steve hears Bucky flick the brush gently and sneezes when more dust lands on his face. 

 

“You done?” Steve asks impatiently. Bucky hums and Steve opens his eyes. 

 

“ _ Looks like the stars decided to dance across your cheeks and tattooed freckles on your skin, _ ” Bucky murmurs, too sweet for Steve not to be taken aback. Steve blushes, glad for the foundation to cover some of it. 

 

There are three flat, plastic containers left and a tube of lipstick labeled with the color ‘red’. The rest have no labels and Steve can see Bucky give up in the slump of his shoulders. 

 

“You don’t need blush since you’re already blushing. Do you need contouring? Highlight?” Bucky asks, peering curiously at the containers. 

 

“What does it do?” Steve asks, only vaguely aware of what that means. Bucky shrugs. 

 

“You know what,” Bucky says, sweeping the rest of the items into the bag. “You’re perfect as you are and you don’t need these. I already suffered enough.”

 

Steve snickers. “No lipstick? I know you love a girl with nice red lips.”

 

Bucky glares at him. “What would you know about that? I haven’t dated a girl since I was sixteen, all flings after that. I think you’re mistaking me for yourself. Mrs. Carter was real good with red lipstick.”

 

Steve rolls his eyes, heavy from the powder on them. “Well, I never dated Peggy because she said she wouldn’t date a guy who was in love with his best friend so…”

 

“You had a crush on me? That’s embarrassing,” Bucky snorts and Steve hits him. 

 

“Shut up. Just do the lipstick, so I can look. I’m kind of excited,” Steve says, putting the lipstick tube into Bucky’s hand. Bucky grumbles something before popping off the cap and smearing some over Steve’s lips in an oddly precise way. Well, it feels precise, but Steve can’t see it, so he’s not sure. Bucky gives him an odd look when he finishes, pausing with his lips parted before glancing away. 

 

“Done, wanna see?” Bucky asks, hopping off the bed to grab a handheld mirror. Steve accepts it and he’s a bit startled by what he sees. 

 

It’s not that Bucky did a bad job. He actually did pretty well, but Steve is shocked by the dramatic contrast of the gray and black and red against his skin and how evenly Bucky was able to apply everything. Even the eyeliner, though slightly smudged, was placed with an artist’s accuracy. 

 

“Wow, Buck. I actually look half decent,” Steve whistles. 

 

Bucky scowls. “Don’t patronize me,” Bucky says, echoing Steve from the beginning of the video. Steve shakes his head, laughing. 

 

“No, it actually looks pretty good,” Steve says, looking at himself in the mirror from different angles. It’s not all that different from how the girls at the studio sometimes did him up yet a complete 180 from how much Steve actually felt like it suited him.  Bucky was right about the eye shadow dust falling prettily. 

 

He turns to the camera and smiles, dryly. “Well, I hope that was amusing to you. Bucky did pretty well, didn’t he?” Steve gives his ending spiel with Bucky hovering at his side. 

 

“Bucky, picture,” Steve says, holding up his phone. Bucky furrows his eyebrows. 

 

“Why do I have to be in it?”

 

Steve rolls his eyes. “For Becca. And Nat. And the internet.”

 

Bucky sucks his teeth, smiling and shaking his head, but relents, putting his face next to Steve’s as he snaps a quick picture. Bucky mumbles something about needing a drink and walks out of the room. 

 

Steve frowns as he watches him leave but posts the picture as a teaser on his Twitter. After typing a small caption, he remembers Becca. 

 

_ >> Your brother is weirdly good at makeup. _

_ >> _ **_Image Attached_ **

 

She texts back right away, as always, with too many exclamation points and unmatched enthusiasm. 

 

_ << omg!!!  _

_ <<You look so good!!  _

_ << what’s the occasion :P _

_ << OOH I BET I KNOW THE OCCASION _

 

_ >> Just for a video. _

_ >> Why? What do you think it’s for? _

 

_ << Nevermind. Buck did that for a video?? Wow! I guess he picked up some things from me when I used to try to make him up.  _

 

Steve snickers, imagining Becca fighting Bucky on doing makeup. 

 

“What’re you laughing at?” Bucky asks, face and hair a little wet. Steve raises an eyebrow at him. 

 

“Your sister. Why are you wet?” Steve asks. Bucky shrugs and mumbles something unintelligible, nuzzling against Steve’s neck. 

 

“What?” Steve pushes, poking Bucky in the stomach. 

 

Bucky pulls back and whines with a pathetic pout. “We really should’ve tried the lipstick sooner,” he sighs, looking mournfully at Steve’s mouth. Steve barks out a laugh. 

 

“Told you you liked it. Looks good, yeah?” Steve smirks, planting a kiss high on Bucky’s cheek bone. It leaves a bright mark against Bucky’s skin. 

 

“Care if I smudge your makeup?” Bucky asks, grinning. Steve swallows thickly and nods. 

 

“Please,” Steve says. 

 

“You know I love you?” Bucky says, eyes crinkling. Steve doesn’t answer him, opting to kiss him instead. 

  
  
  
  


***

  
  
  
  


**Outtake: Two Months Later**

 

Bucky does this occasionally, goes onto Steve’s account to live stream to his subscribers. Steve doesn’t mind since his subs are always asking for more of Bucky since he’s  _ so interesting _ . This time it’s a little different. 

 

“I have to be quiet because Steve’s packing in the other room,” Bucky whispers to the camera. He leans towards the camera conspiratorially as he digs around in his pockets, biting his bottom lip until his hand catches on something. He smiles, softly but nervously.

 

“I wanted to tell you guys someth--”

 

“Buck?” Steve calls. Bucky whips from the camera to Steve.

 

“Yeah?” Bucky calls, inclining his head towards Steve in the doorway of their bedroom. 

 

“Come back, I’m cold,” Steve says. Bucky nods and holds up a finger to say he’ll be a minute. Steve sighs and walks back into the room. Bucky watches until he’s sure the coast is clear.

 

“Okay, so Steve and I always go up to a cabin in the middle of nowhere in Canada for his birthday,” Bucky says, fast, the words tripping like he can barely get them out. He glances at the comments, only a couple of viewers watching his nervous breakdown. 

 

“No, no not like that. Well, kind of. Steve is very nice to look at, you know. But I don’t-- his birthday is on the Fourth of July and the fireworks are-- yeah. Anyway,” Bucky says, giving up on  his half-assed explanation. He smiles, bringing his hand out of his pocket and showing it to the camera.

 

“Buck,” Steve calls again. Bucky nods to the camera and puts a finger to his lips before slipping the ring box back into his pocket.

 

“Keep this between us, yeah? You can start spreading it around sometime tomorrow because we’ll be up in the middle of nowhere by then,” Bucky says quietly, winking at the camera. He turns towards the bedroom door. “Coming, Stevie. So impatient. See you later, peoples.”

 

Bucky waves and shuts down the program. He walks into the room and wraps himself around Steve like an octopus, allowing a little space for Steve’s arms to move.

 

“It’s the middle of summer, Rogers. What are you doing?” Bucky asks as Steve packs three long sleeved shirts. He takes Steve’s hands and rubs his palms along Steve’s arms. “How are you so cold, Steve, hell.”

 

“It’s cold in Canada,” Steve says, shrugging as he packs a pair of sweatpants. 

 

“I can keep you warm,” Bucky says, smiling against the back of Steve’s neck. Steve hums, leaning back into Bucky’s touch. Bucky grins harder, ready for them to leave tomorrow. He’s real fucking excited.

**Author's Note:**

> heyyy I hope you liked it!! Leave a comment or kudos if you did :D 
> 
> My tumblr and twitter are @seamorered if you feel like talking to me. I mostly post random fandom stuff. I hope you have an awesome day dudes <3


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